Dragons: Flight of the Stormcutter
by Crimson-Strength
Summary: Hiccup and the gang are on another adventure this time to discover a mystery dragon that has attacked Berk, however when Hiccup shoots it out of the sky he fears this might turn out the same as when he grounded Toothless. What if he injured and grounded an extremely rare dragon again?
1. Responsible

**Yay, the author worked up the guts to start another fanfiction, and this one is much more planned out than the last. It will follow the style of the "Dreamworks Dragons" TV show, with references from the show and the whimsical banter. There will be an OC insert from another story of mine. non-slash. The only implied relationships will be Toothcup and Hicstrid, though light so no romance, remember this is supposed to be like an episode of Defenders of Berk. I do not intend for this to go on forever there will probably be less than ten chapters but who can say at this point. Anyway, I've said too much! Enjoy!**

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**Flight of the Stormcutter**

"Dragon attack!" Stoick the Vast yelled from the perch of a catapult with his half brother Spitelout at his right and. Fire rained down from the sky as a small dragon swooped down overhead breathing fire onto the houses. Behind it flitted several very small dragons but in the darkness Stoick was unable to tell just how many there were.

"Dad!" Hiccup called down landing on the catabult perch from Toothless' back, "Did you get a good look at it?" he wondered. Toothless kept his eyes on the sky, growling as he spotted the dragon which he could tell was not much bigger than himself. Hiccup laid a hand on his nose, "It's okay, bud!"

Stoick denied, "No, it's too fast, and there's not enough light!" gesturing Spitelout to arm the bola cannons he grimaced and turned his attention back to Hiccup, "Son, a rogue dragon could burn down the whole village! You have to find out what kind of dragon is attacking us and why!"

Hiccup nodded hurriedly, and patted Toothless' nose, "sure thing Dad! But we've got to protect the village long enough for me to do that!"

Stoick walked down from the catapult perch as Hiccup and Toothless took off. He muttered to himself worried for the safety of his tribe, "Does it want food? Does it have young, or a mate? Why is it attacking?!" Gobber met him at the bottom of the perch in front of the Jorgenson's home, and he asked quickly, "What's the damage report?"

Gobber switched his prosthetic hand from a hammer to a pincer, "That blasted reptile set my house of fire!" he shrieked hobbling along on his peg leg to the fires in the distance, "What kind of dragon is this!"

Stoick denied that he knew at watched at five teens flew around on their dragons, spilling barrels of water carried by their dragons onto Gobber's house. The fire was out in seconds and Astrid landed in front of her chief. Stock set his fists on his sides, "Did any of you get a good look at it?!" he demanded.

Simultaneously, the five teens shook their heads but chatter and concern become an uproar and an argument among them. Fishlegs Ingerman insisted it was a strike class with a small wingspan, while Snotlout Jorgenson described it at a man-eating ball of fury which whizzed past him and nearly struck Astrid, but he saved her. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thortson merely argued about whether or not the dragon was dark blue or white.

Astrid slapped her face hearing all of them and groan, "I'm sorry chief, none of us really know what we're up against."

Stoick accepted her answer, "We'll know more when Hiccup get's back," he assured all of them, "For now, we need to get started on repairs and hope that thing can be trained or can be scared off for good."

Hiccup and Toothless shot through the low storm clouds like a pullet, following the whistling sound of the dragon's wings which they followed. Suddenly Toothless panicked, looked down then took a nose dive through the cloud, "Toothless!" Hiccup shrieked, "Where are you going?"

They heard a roar from beneath them and Toothless followed the sound, "It's going to the cove!" Hiccup shouted, recognizing the trees of Raven Point. Toothless pulled his wings tightly to himself to dive, he was the fastest dragon and with the speed of gravity they came in sight of the dragon they were pursuing.

Hiccup tensed finally seeing it clearly in the moonlight, it was smaller than Toothless but also very quick and it had a sharp trident tail. Toothless abruptly blew a plasma blast at it striking its wings and causing it to collide with a tree and fall through the forest. Toothless flapped his wings coming out of the dive just above the trees and Hiccup stared down into the darkness to see if he could spot any sign of the dragon, but it was gone. The night forest had gone silent.

* * *

The next morning the teens gathered in the training academy begging Hiccup to tell them what he saw. Hiccup however didn't reveal anything until his father arrived with Gobber. "Come on, Hiccup!" Astrid demanded, "we all want to know what you saw!"

Hiccup looked to his father and Stoick gave him a nod, "Go on, son, tell us what it was."

Hiccup gave a little smile then whipped out his sketchbook, opening it up for all to see. The five teens, two Vikings, and five dragons all gazed into the little sketchbook to see a charcoal drawing of a nimble, small dragon, with a feline head and four horns, Night Fury-like wings, and a trident tail.

"What the devil!" Stoick exclaimed.

Hiccup closed his sketchbook, "It was dark blue," he stated and the twins started arguing and celebrating about who had been right, "It wasn't like anything in the book of dragons, I think it's a new species!" he looked to Fishlegs for assessment.

Fishlegs took another look at the drawing from Hiccup's sketchbook, for Hiccup only ever entrusted his sketchbook to Fishlegs anyone else would destroy it. "I was right about it being a strike class, but I've never see a small dragon that could fly so fast."

Hiccup agreed, "Toothless and I knocked it out of the sky, somewhere off Raven Point. We could get a search party and go look for it, if its injured we might be able to help it, get it to trust us, and even train it!" he described encouraging the idea.

Snotlout burst forth, "Wait! Haven't we been through this before!"

Hiccup eyed his cousin a tad irritated, "I uh… I don't think so…" he stammered.

Snotlout laughed to the twins, "remember the last time he shot down a dragon and wanted to search for it at Raven Point?"

Hiccup tensed feeling hurt by the suggestion and a fear grew inside him, what if he had injured this rare, unique dragon by shooting it out of the sky? He felt Toothless nudge his back, nuzzling up behind him, Hiccup pat his head, but he knew that Toothless could feel his anxiety.

Stoick slapped a hand on Snotlout's shoulder, "Now is not the time, Snotlout," he then looked at his son sternly, "Hiccup, last time I didn't listen to you concerning a dragon you shot down it ended in a full scale war, I won't make that same mistake twice."

Looking up at his father, Hiccup gave a weak smile, "Thanks Dad…" he muttered.

Stoick slapped him in the back, winding him terribly, "Alright, you dragon riders can be the search party, do all you can to find that dragon!" he ordered.

"Right!" Fishlegs affirmed giving a weak salute.

The twins chimed in unison, "Yeah! Another dragon hunt!" Tuffnut encouraged the idea of mucking about in the woods with his sister. The games they could play would be endless.

Hiccup nodded quickly, "Alright, I'm on it, Dad!" he then looked to the dragon riders, "Everyone, get your dragons, we're flying out to Raven Point!" as he said this he climbed onto Toothless, followed by the other dragon riders and they flew out of the academy in a cinch.

They kept their dragons close as they arrived landing in the depths of the dense forest. Hiccup, trying to be a natural born leader, even though he wasn't turned his attention to the odd group, "Alright we'll split up into three teams, Fishlegs, you're with Ruffnut, Snotlout will be with Tuffnut, and I'll be with Astrid."

Snotlout jumped with fury, "wait what!" he insisted otherwise, "How come you get to search with Astrid?" he shot a friendly glance at Astrid and smooched his lips affectionately.

Astrid formed a fist, "Because I'd sock him if he put me with you…"

Hiccup pressed his lips together and awkwardly took a step away from Astrid, "Well… uh… that's just a pleasant thought… anyone else have any objections?" no one spoke up so he smiled, "Good, Fishlegs and Ruff, you head north. Snotlout and Tuff you head south, Astrid and I will head west."

Tuff stepped on Hiccup's instructions, "Who's gonna head east?"

Ruff punched him, "You dummy, we came east!"

Tuffnut shrugged, "I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure we came down… 'cause you know, we were flying."

Ruff hit him again and this time he retaliated getting into a sissy fight between the two of them, "you idiot!" Ruff shrieked.

Hiccup groaned, "And this is why we must separate the twins…" with this the three groups split up and Hiccup could hear the twins and Snotlout arguing from a mile away.

Along the way, Astrid knocked Hiccup in the shoulder with the back of her hand, "So what was it like?" she wondered suddenly.

Hiccup looked to her and puzzled, "what… er… are you talking about?"

Astrid smiled and gestured to the ebony dragon following closely as Hiccup's side, "When you were searching out here for Toothless?" she wondered.

Hiccup stammered a bit and glanced down at his best friend, "Well… uh…" he hesitated, tripping a bit over a fallen log, "I was most just trying to prove to everyone that I could kill a dragon… I didn't even think I would find him," he admitted, Toothless warbled a comforting sound to his human sympathizing with him.

Astrid laid a hand on his shoulder, "But instead of killing him you saved him!" she assured him, "and by befriending him you taught all of us dragons are pretty cool!"

Hiccup nodded, "I just hope we can help this dragon and maybe even train it." Toothless growled a little, and Hiccup laughed, "don't get jealous bud, this isn't like Torch!" he joked cheerfully for once.

Astrid laughed as well but her laughter died down seeing a melancholic look on Hiccup's face, "So what's wrong?" he wondered, concerned for him, which was very out of character for her.

Hiccup grimaced, kicking a pinecone with his prosthetic, "it's just what Snotlout said…" he despaired, "last time I shot a dragon out of the sky, I grounded him…" he gave Toothless' scales a scratch feeling bad for him, "I'm just worried I might have injured this dragon and we don't even know anything about it."

Astrid shrugged, "We didn't know anything about Night Furies either, Hiccup, don't feel bad, this can only work out for the better!" she promised.

Suddenly, Hiccup shushed her and stood still, Toothless had reacted first, stopped in his tracks and lowered his head growling. Hiccup knelt to the ground followed by Astrid and whispered, "What is it bud?" Slowly and as quietly as he could he climbed onto Toothless' back slipping his prosthetic into Toothless' stirrup.

Abruptly, Toothless pounced forward and flew over a rock toppling over something small through the brush and pinning it to the ground. "Toothless stop!" Hiccup shrieked as Toothless prepared a plasma blast. Toothless obeyed and looked up to Hiccup with baby-like eyes.

Hiccup looked over Toothless' shoulder to what—rather who he pinned to the pine needles. Underneath Toothless' paw laid a young boy, who flinched, pinning his eyes shut and reaching out desperately for a thick stick just beyond his fingers. Hiccup tensed as Astrid came running and he climbed off Toothless' back, not allowing his dragon to let the boy go just yet.

"What is it, Hiccup!" Astrid shrieked running up then spotting the boy.

It seemed the boy was terrified, who wouldn't be, pinned down by a dragon. He whimpered reaching out for the stick but Hiccup grabbed it out of his reach. The boy despaired laying his head back in the pine needles and giving in to his fate, "kill me…" he whispered accepting the death by dragon.

Hiccup tensed then looked to his friend, "Toothless… let him up…" and his dragon obeyed.

Suddenly the boy burst upward and scrambled to get out of there but he didn't make it far before he tripped and curled up on the ground terrified. Hiccup tensed again seeing himself in the boy instantly, he boy was scared for his life and felt tiny like he was useless, no better fate could come to him than for his life to end.

Slowly, Hiccup eased his way closer to the boy, "Are you alright?" he asked, "Are you lost?"

The boy didn't meet eyes with him, but nodded, he didn't have any idea where he was or what island he was on, and on top of being very confused, there was a dragon staring down at him. The boy kept his eyes on Toothless cautiously but Hiccup pushed him back to not scare the boy. Tensing, the boy watched Hiccup in amazement, "How did you do that?" he asked.

Hiccup smiled in a friendly manner, "This is Toothless, I trained him, don't worry he won't hurt you," he promised as he let Toothless closer to smell the boy, who only flinched and tried to protect himself.

Kindly, Hiccup held out the stick to the boy, "Is this yours?" he wondered.

The boy took one look at it and nodded, quickly snatching it out of Hiccup's hands when he offered it. Slowly, and using the stick, the boy drew himself up off the ground. Hiccup tensed the boy was level with his height and Astrid could only stare at the same thing Hiccup at noticed. The boy had red hair which stood up in the back like he had slept on it in a funny position, he wore a blue tunic and black leggings but he only wore one yak-fur boot, for his left leg was missing from below the knee.

Astrid stepped next to Hiccup and gaped, "Hiccup…" she uttered.

Hiccup only stared at the boy in shock, "He's just like me," he whispered as his deep set fear returned. The boy used the staff to stand without a prosthetic like Hiccup had, and the bottom of his pants tied into a loose knot was the only thing that kept his stump from being exposed to the harsh, cold air. "What's your name?" Hiccup choked out.

The boy met eyes with Hiccup letting him see the boy had wild lime green eyes, much light Toothless' eyes, "Caillte," he stated in a soft voice.

Hiccup laid a hand on Toothless' head between the eyes, "Where are you from?" he asked gently.

The boy, Caillte looked around the forest and eyed Astrid briefly as if getting a feel for who he was surrounded by, in his caution, "a place very far from here…" he whispered, "An island far to the south not in this archipelago," they could tell he wasn't lying, he had a strange accent too.

Hiccup held out a hand to him, "would you like to come back with us to our village?" he offered.

Astrid eyed him, "Hiccup, we still have to find that dragon!" she urged.

Hiccup ignored her, "But what about him, it's not safe out here, especially for a foreigner!" he insisted.

Astrid set a hand on her hip, "It's not safe out here for the twin either, and yet you sent them off to find a feral dragon,"

Hiccup sighed, "Astrid, I'm not arguing about this," he then looked to Caillte for his opinion in all this.

Caillte stared at them cautiously, "I'm used to being out in the woods…" he tried to convince him, "but… if you want—"

"Fine!" Hiccup said with a smile, "Astrid, I'll take him back to my house on Toothless, you go gather the others and bring them back to the village." Astrid grumbled at this, but Hiccup was firm set and brought Toothless alongside the boy after climbing on. Caillte shuddered as the dragon neared him but Hiccup's outstretched hand imparted some comfort and enough bravery to take his hand.

Caillte clung to Hiccup's vest for fear as the Night Fury sent them spiraling up in the air and back to Berk in seconds. Toothless flew in through Hiccup's window and Hiccup climbed off the moment they landed to help Caillte off of Toothless. The boy stumbled and clung to his staff until Hiccup helped him to sit on his bed and rest.

"Welcome to the Haddock house," Hiccup declared in a friendly manner, gesturing about the room, "make yourself at home," he offered. Caillte merely stayed still, staring about the room worriedly. On a whim, Hiccup suddenly ran down stairs for a moment declaring, "Here, I'll grab you something to eat," and he disappeared down the ladder for a few seconds.

Stoick tensed seeing Hiccup, "Son, you're back, any luck finding that dragon?"

Hiccup denied, grabbing a loaf of bread and a smoked salmon from the fire pit, "No, but there was a boy out there who is missing a leg, so I brought him here," he explained quickly, rushing back upstairs.

"You did what?!" Stoick boomed but Hiccup didn't respond, disappearing now upstairs. Hiccup sighed, figuring this was one of Hiccup's quirks and his father would be forced to go with it.

Hiccup offered the bread and fish to the boy but Caillte quickly refused it, "Oh no, I couldn't take food from you,"

Hiccup smiled, "Relax, my Dad's the chief," and with this he got Caillte to take the plate. Slowly, the foreign boy stared down at the food, licking his lips hungrily, he glanced to Hiccup for one last affirmation before he dug in devouring everything quickly.

"Thank you…" he whispered with his mouth full, "I haven't eaten in days," he admitted, "Last time I got to hunting was back on Yell, but you don't catch much with so many mouths to feed…" his voice was muffled by how full his mouth was and he tore into the bread eagerly.

Hiccup sat down next to him, "Yell?" he puzzled.

Caillte nodded, "It's a tiny island in a very small archipelago south of here. I lived there for a time with my family, we've been traveling north for safety," he explained as if slipping into comfortable conversation.

Seeing the idea of friendly conversation fruitful, Hiccup asked further, "Do you have a big family?" he wondered.

Caillte nodded, "Six children to feed, and the overprotective mother…" he mused to himself a bit sarcastically.

Hiccup chuckled, "Are you the oldest?" he asked, taking Caillte for a very responsible young man.

Caillte eyed Hiccup a little confused but then denied, "Second oldest."

At this point, Stoick the Vast came rattling up the stairs giving Caillte a good scare, the color drained from the poor boy's face as the red-bearded Viking stared down at him trying to act friendly, "Hello there, I am Stoick the Vast, chief of the Hairy Hooligans, what brings you to my island?"

Caillte just kinda stared up at him, pale in the face and only able to whisper, "Big…" in a very weak voice.

"Dad, I think you're scaring him," Hiccup deadpanned.

Stoick realized he was indeed fairly terrifying to behold so he took a step back, "Oh… sorry," then he knelt down to be more the boy's height but he was still taller than Hiccup even on his knees. "What's your name, boy?" Stoick asked in an attempted soft voice.

Slowly, the boy was able to meet eyes with Stoick and answered, "Caillte," just as he had for Hiccup.

Stoick reached out to shake hands with him, but the boy hesitated and Stoick figured he shouldn't frighten the boy with the sandpaper-like texture of his massive oven mitts that had killed scores of barbarians and dragons alike. "Where are you from?" he asked not realizing Hiccup had already tried that.

Caillte glanced to Hiccup then to Toothless who had curled up on his bed across the room. He knew full well he had not told the full truth of where he was from so he answered this now, "Ireland," he stated uneasily.

Stoick's eyes widened, "You're a long way from home, why have you come here?" he asked honestly, though it sounded like he was interrogating the boy.

Caillte folded his hands together, "Our lands were being tormented by the Celts, my family was not safe there so we sailed north for unreachable islands." He looked down at his shortened leg discontentedly, "but last night I was separated from them and I woke up in the woods… I must've hit my head, I don't remember how I got there or what happened."

Stoick nodded, "Would your family still be on Berk?" he wondered.

Caillte shrugged, uncertain, "They could have sailed on without me…" he muttered.

Toothless perked up and Hiccup smiled, "Well we can fly you to them easy!" he assured. Caillte only responded with a glare. Hiccup reverted, "Is there anything you remember from last night?"

The boy's eyes became pensive, thinking, trying ever so hard to remember, "A dragon…" he whispered then met eyes with Hiccup, "I was being chased by a dragon," he stated firmly. His eyes then drifted down to his leg again, "I fell… for obvious reasons… I think I'm just amazed to be alive…" he chuckled, feigning relief.

* * *

Caillte is Irish for Lost :| lazy name is lazy

The island of Yell is in the Shetland Islands.

Notice how he hesitates when Hiccup asks if he's the oldest... *hint hint*


	2. Independent

**As proof that I do learn from experience, I made an outline of everything that will happen in this story, so don't worry guys, everything is planned out, I know where this is going! Enjoy the read! I hope you like! **

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It was not until midday that Hiccup left the house with Caillte, the boy needed quite a bit of time to get to the stairs but with his staff he was fairly quick at getting around, using it like a crutch. It became quickly evident that Caillte was very aware of dragons and their many sizes, shapes, and colors, but he could not fathom how all the dragons here on Berk were tame. It boggled his mind to see them around humans, helping, playing, and chasing small children.

"So what did the dragon look like?" Hiccup asked, curious as ever while he led Caillte from his house to Gobber's forge.

Caillte did a turn with his eyes staring up at all the dragons in amazement, "the one that chased me?" he made sure, Hiccup nodded, he shrugged, "it was dark, I couldn't really see, but it was really fast, and seemed smaller than a lot of dragons here, probably about his size," he pointed at Toothless.

Hiccup tensed, "Could it have been the mystery dragon from last night?" he said to himself.

Caillte eyed him terribly confused, "Mystery dragon?"

Hiccup smiled waving it off, "Don't worry, you're safe from it here in Berk!" he assured just to make the boy feel better.

Caillte changed the subject, "So where are we going?"

Just very cheerfully, Hiccup pointed head to the forge which looked over the sea, "To Gobber's forge, I use it to make tailfins for Toothless, and I was going to ask Gobber to make you a leg, since he made this one for me!" he pointed down at his wooden and metal prosthetic leg.

Caillte tensed uncomfortably and stopped in his tracks, silently he stared down at his foot, "I don't need a new leg…" he whispered shocking Hiccup terribly, "I can get around just fine without it," he insisted.

Seeing his unease, Hiccup quickly reverted, "Well, how about a real crutch, something you can put under your arm?" he suggested.

Caillte shook his head, "No, I don't need it" he insisted a bit harshly. Realizing how his emotions were showing through, Caillte stifled his tone, "Sorry…" he whispered and continued walking.

"No I'm sorry," Hiccup urged, "I was being too presumptuous," he assured with a big word, he was probably the only one on Berk who knew that word. Hiccup could sense a lot of pride in Caillte like he wanted to feel independent, but he didn't appear that way. Caillte was skinny but he was taller than Hiccup by a little, he was probably a lot stronger than Hiccup physically.

They walked into Gobber's forge anyway and Hiccup explained lightly, "Gobber's missing an arm and a leg, I'm sure he'll like you just fine."

Caillte looked around the forge with a worried look in his eyes, "I already told you I don't need a leg… so why can't I just get a few days' supply of food and leave?"

Hiccup remained silent, puzzling a little, "How would you leave if your family might have left without you?" he wondered, mostly to himself then he dismissed the idea, "we'll get you that supplies," he assured, "and as soon as we can, you and me can fly out on Toothless," he offered.

Caillte looked down at his foot again disheartened and very clearly he didn't want Hiccup to take him anywhere especially to meet his family. Hiccup figured there was far more to this stranger than his fine tale of escape and refuge, and Hiccup highly doubted a family would leave behind their crippled child.

Hiccup offered Caillte to sit down at the work bench, "So how did you lose it?" he asked cautiously.

Caillte eyed him a little angry that Hiccup would ask such a thing but then it occurred to him, Hiccup had been through the same thing. Caillte flinched with the foul memories, Hiccup could see the fire in Caillte's from whatever tragedy it had been, Caillte's heart rate quickened. His eyes fell to the dirt floor, saddened to remember it, "There was a fire, it was crushed…" he whispered very softly.

Hiccup sighed and gently laid a hand on Caillte's shoulder, "It was a fire for me too," he tried to comfort him, "And being this size in an island of Vikings as big as islands themselves, it made me feel really weak, but I had Toothless…" he said with a smile.

Caillte gave a weak nostalgic chuckle, "and I had my River…" he whispered with a smile.

Hiccup met eyes with him confused, "River, you lived by a river?"

Caillte shook his head, "River is… a friend of mine," he stated with a bit of hesitation.

Understanding, Hiccup gave a little nod, "Oh," he muttered but that was all he could say before Gobber's heavy footsteps of _thud, whump, thud, whump, _trailed into the building, complaining ever so loudly about a dragon with a toothache. "Gobber…" Hiccup called to get his attention.

Gobber stopped his ramblings and turned his attention to the boy, "oh… look-y here, about time you came to muck out the cooling buckets!" he joked, Hiccup rolled his eyes then Gobber noticed Caillte and his voice turned to a stern skeptical tone, "And who's this new face?"

Hiccup gestured to him lightly, "Gobber, this is Caillte, he was lost in the woods," he introduced the boy, "We need some supplies to fly north and catch up with Caillte's family."

Gobber chuckled walking about through the forge to stoke up the forge, "I canae see why you need me for that. How far north are you goin'?"

Hiccup shrugged, "Just far enough to find his family."

Caillte shuddered, "No…" he whispered, "let's not, I'm sure they'll come back for me!" he assured quite nervously.

Eyeing him confused, Hiccup tried to convince him otherwise, but figured he was probably right, "Are you sure? Do you want to search the island for them or anything?"

Caillte shook his head quickly, then reverted, growing quiet for a moment, "But a flight…" he whispered glancing to Toothless and imaging the sky, "Would be nice," he admitted tenderly.

At this, Hiccup could only smile, "you here that bud?" he patted Toothless' head, "you wanna go for a flight?" to this Toothless warbled a delighted growl and licked Hiccup's face so that his hair stood up on one side.

Caillte gave a very small laugh as Hiccup climbed on Toothless and extended a hand to him again. Last time, Caillte had been unsure about who was offering him help, now he was intrigued by wondering just what it was like to ride a dragon. He climbed onto Toothless' back readily this time and braced himself just like Hiccup for the sheer speed with which they ascended.

Hiccup noticed immediately how Caillte moved with Toothless just as Hiccup did himself, Caillte was very accustomed to adjusting his weight on a moving object, something like a boat or a horse. But now, Caillte showed great aptitude for being a dragon rider himself and Hiccup began to wonder. Might Caillte want a dragon of his own?

Berk was a wonderful place from the sky and with Vikings on the backs of dragons following them through the clouds playfully, Caillte's true nature unfolded to Hiccup. Caillte was a bit of a hiccup himself, with eyes that were full of wonder and curiosity even though he was small and weak. Hiccup looked back to see Caillte's smile, it was a genuine thing, with overlapping front teeth, and sharp canines, but full of joy.

Caillte threw his head back feeling the wind in his face, and the coolness of the clouds as they touched them. He laughed when Astrid flew alongside them, and reached out to her. He felt free, just as Hiccup did. Caillte was slow, tripped a lot, and probably relied on his family a lot, and he was fighting to be independent so flying was the best feeling he had ever experienced. He was untouched by gravity, held up on the wings of a dragon, and he never wanted to come down.

Hiccup brought him to the training academy with the others trailing behind soon after and he was introduced to them as well, now in a better mood than when he had met Stoick and Gobber. He quickly adopted established opinions of Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs from their immediate impressions on him.

In considerately Snotlout pointed out, "Leave something at home today?" pointing at the boy's foot that wasn't there.

"Snotlout…" Hiccup groaned his cousin's lack of tactful speech.

Caillte's face flushed and he didn't respond to the snot nose comment, he took a moment and stepped over to Snotlout, acting feeble, "Could you give me a hand?" he asked, reaching out for support and bending down to adjust the knot on the end of his pants.

For some reason, Snotlout pitied the boy and took his hand but Caillte yanked his hand flipping Snotlout over him and onto the stone floor, whilst knocking him in the head with his staff. He said nothing, and walked away with a smug smile, pleased with himself while Snotlout lay on the ground dazed.

Even Astrid stood shocked at this and Hiccup winced, imagining that blow must've hurt, "Wow, I didn't think you were so strong!"

Caillte didn't take offense at this, and just smiled, "I kind of have to be, what with six mouths to feed and all!" he joked.

Hiccup laughed as well, admiring Caillte. While Hiccup couldn't seem to do anything right before, even with his disability, Caillte was strong, very independent, and responsible. Hiccup stopped himself, why did he keep comparing himself to this stranger. It occurred to him, maybe by doing so he was burying his real fear. That dragon was still out there and it could be badly injured, on the verge of death, or even surrounded by wild boars. He was stalling, he wanted to help a new friend, something tangible, but the mystery plagued him for the rest of the day and he avoided it.

By evening Hiccup had to face it, Caillte was of no consequence, he assure them his family would come back for him and in a few days he would be out of there. In the Meade Hall for a meal Astrid came to him to address this with, "Do you want to go out on another search for that dragon before sundown."

Hiccup hunched over his plate trying to avoid the question with a soft, "I think I'll stay here and help Caillte get settled for the night, you can go if you take someone with you…"

Astrid sat down next to him and slapped his back, "that's why I'm asking you," she insisted but he just glanced to Caillte who was happily talking with Fishlegs. Astrid sighed, "Hiccup, I know you just want to make sure he's safe, but with a rogue dragon out there the whole village isn't safe and everyone in it is at risk!" she urged him, pulling on his sleeve to come with her.

Hiccup sighed, "Not now, Astrid," he grumbled trying to come up with an excuse, "I'll come on a search with you tomorrow morning," he assured and left it at that. She gave up after a while and left him alone for the time being. The sun set anyway, and Hiccup asked his father to set up a cot for Caillte to sleep him, to which he obliged. The evening went smoothly, and Hiccup didn't think Astrid took it too hard.

However, some hours into the night Hiccup was awaken abruptly by the dull roar of a dragon some ways away from his house and Toothless perked up when he heard the familiar scream of, "Dragon Attack!" outside from a Viking. Hiccup threw off his covers and ran down the stairs to make sure Caillte was alright before he went out to help but to his shock, the boy was gone.

It might have been just the dull firelight and Hiccup searched the house, wondering if he might find the boy huddled on the floor in fear of the sounds outside. Hiccup guessed this because years ago, that had been him who hid in the corner, holding his ears to hide from the sounds. But he found no sight of the boy.

Hurriedly, Hiccup mounted Toothless and they sprang out of the front door, bursting into the air. Hiccup fretted, "I hope he's okay!" as he and Toothless flew upward into a plume of smoke rising from a burning home. It was happening all over again but he gathered a little hope, if the dragon was attacking them, it was not grounded after all, but still, it might have hurt someone in that fire and it was Hiccup's fault for not searching for it when it was shot down.

The _whoosh_ of a huge wing passed in front of Hiccup and Toothless and they stopped in midair to see the dark wings of the drawing zipping past them, "that way, Toothless!" Hiccup shriek and they raced after it.

The dragon took passes over the village, they couldn't quite see it with all the smoke but they could hear it as it dove and breathed fire over the buildings almost like it was searching for something. Hiccup saw chaos beneath them and landed in the group of teens as they rushed to put out the fires.

"Astrid!" Hiccup called to his girlfriend.

Astrid tensed seeing him land from Stormfly's back, "Hiccup!" and she too landed.

Hiccup looked around at the madness and panicked, "I'm so sorry, you were right!" he admitted, "I can't find Caillte, and I think this mystery dragon is looking for something in the village!"

"About that…" Fishlegs' voice came nervously, "I noticed something strange following the dragon, they were little dragons in fact, the chief noticed them too last night. I think this dragon might be an angry mother!" he shrieked terrified at his own proposal.

Hiccup's eyes widened hearing the idea, "what makes you think that?" he wondered.

Fishlegs bit his lip, "well… look!" he shrieked, pointing to the twins.

Hiccup looked and tensed seeing Tuffnut fondling over a little dragon in his arms on the front porch of the Thortson's house, and Ruffnut gently stroking it's scales. Hiccup ran over to them, "Uh… where did you get that dragon?" he wondered but noticed instantly it was dark blue and had a trident tail, he gasped, "it's the same species as the mystery dragon, Tuffnut we need to get that baby dragon back to its mother!" he realized.

Tuffnut stared at him stupidly, "What? No! We've had this dragon for like three days now, trust me its mother hasn't come looking for it!"

Hiccup growled raising a fist, "Tuffnut! That's its mother!" he shouted pointing at the raining fire. He gave up and rushed at Tuffnut, "Give me that dragon!" he demanded, snatching it out of Tuffnut's arms.

The dragon growled, angry to leave it's caretakers as Hiccup shoved it up to the sky shouting, "Here! Here's your baby, just take it home with you and leave us alone!" he pleaded.

Astrid ran over to the twins and smacked Tuffnut upside the face, "You idiot, you found that dragon three days ago and it's mother came looking for it only a day later! This is Torch all over again!" she shrieked, confusing Tuffnut a good deal.

The little blue dragon squirmed until it got free enough from Hiccup's hands to bit him in the arm, and as Hiccup cried out in mild pain it ran right back to Tuffnut. The blonde merely smiled and picked up the dragon again crying happily, "You're back! I knew you couldn't stay away little BlueEyes!"

"You named it!" Astrid shrieked, overreacting terrible, "We need to get rid of it not get attached to it before its mother destroys the village!"

Hiccup frowned and jumped back onto Toothless, "Alright new plan!" he instated, "You guys hide that dragon, I'll go chase off the mother!" he explained quickly.

Astrid tensed, "Hiccup, you can't!"

Hiccup spread his hands, "it worked before, Toothless and I chased it off and it didn't come back until now, that'll give us a day to find it and return its baby!" with this he took to the air and searched for the devil in the sky. However as soon as he got high enough to see the whole village, the dragon was nowhere in sight!

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**In case you haven't noticed the mystery dragon is not a Stormcutter *hint hint***

**BlueEyes is a dragon OC of mine I sorta threw in there, his name was originally Súile-Ciel but that was too intelligent for Tuffnut to come up with. **Disclaimer to any amputees out there. I'm am sorry for that horrible comment Snotlout makes in this chapter, I just wanted to make Caillte mad enough to get violent.****


	3. Strong Toothpick

**Bear with me guys this is all part of the plan, and kudos to the guest reviewer who totally called it on the first stinkin' chapter! Enjoy Tuffnut's idiocy! **

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"I found him guys!" Fishlegs shrieked from the top of the stairs to the Meade Hall and the five dragon riders swooped down to the spot, running into the old building with vigor. They ran right up to him crowding over him as they saw what had become of him. Caillte had fallen asleep on the floor of the Meade Hall, he had mild burns all over his face and arms, but otherwise he was unharmed.

Hiccup pushed everyone out of the way to give him some space, "He must of come here in the confusion, it makes sense, that's where everyone else was hiding," as he speculated this, Caillte woke up dazedly.

Caillte looked about them and grimaced, pained slightly by his burns, "What happened?" he groaned softly.

Hiccup offered him a hand and helped him to his feet—well… foot, "The mystery dragon attacked again last night, it's good that you made it here though, this is the safest place."

Suddenly, the baby dragon on Tuffnut's shoulder bit him in the nose and Tuff gave a yell startled, "It bit me!" no sooner, did the dragon leap off his shoulder kicking him to the ground and land on the floor. It scratched behind its ear frills, licked its eye, then strode pleasantly to Caillte.

The boy awed a little bit, and Hiccup half expected him to awe at just how cute the dragon was as it nestled up in Caillte's lap as the boy knelt down to it declaring, "Súile-Ciel!"

At this the six dragon rider's tensed but Tuffnut was the first to yell, "Hey, her name is BlueEyes!"

Caillte just laughed, stroking the little dragon's horns, "Actually, _his _name is Súile-Ciel!" he corrected.

Astrid puzzled, "Wow, that dragon bit Hiccup but he loves you!"

Caillte smiled holding the baby dragon… well like a baby, "is this your mystery dragon?" he asked. Hiccup nodded slowly but this only made Caillte grin, "this kind of dragon makes very close bonds with those it loves, it doesn't like being separated from them for any reason."

Tuffnut laughed, "Hear that, sis, that dragon loves me! That's more than you!" he huffed hautily.

Ruffnut took a swing at Tuff but her brother dodged it and laughed, "You dummy, of course I love you!" she spat, but covered her mouth quickly. The others stared at her all of a sudden, hurriedly she slurred out, "…you—your dragon! 'cause you know it's attached to mine!"

Tuff laughed it off nervously, "That's good, 'cause for a moment there I thought you said you—" he was cut off when Ruffnut landed a blow and knocked him right to the floor, laughing hysterically at him.

Caillte chuckled at their antics, "This little guy must have gotten separated from mommy…" he grinned down at the blue dragon.

Hiccup smiled, "So I was right!" he awed, "It is the mother dragon that's attacking the village, she's searching for her baby."

Caillte nodded and put Súile-Ciel on his shoulder as he stood up slowly, "it would make sense, Súile-Ciel wanders off he should know better!" he reprimanded the little dragon like a parent, "and that would mean your mommy's very mad at you!"

Hiccup laughed lightly, "How do you know so much about this kind of dragon?" he wondered.

Immediately, Hiccup could see the boy hesitate, struggling to come up with an answer, to cover up the truth, "because… well, it's very rare and—this dragon is a mix breed and even rarer."

At this, Hiccup tensed, "A mix breed!" he repeated shocked.

Fishleg's puzzled, "You mean like two different dragon species had babies together?!"

Hiccup shook off his confusion, "How do you know?" he nearly demanded.

Caillte remained calm, looking down at the little dragon, "Because this little guy's mama is a Stormcutter!" he declared.

Fishlegs gave a great gasp of excitement, "You mean an actual Stormcutter?" he wondered, giddy with the idea.

Hiccup gave a confused look to Fishlegs, "What in Midgard is a Stormcutter!?"

Fishlegs was nearly jumping up and down, "Only the coolest dragon ever besides a Night Fury and my Meatlug!" he declared, "It's huge, it has four wings and is known as the most benevolent, caring dragon out there, and exceptional parents!"

Caillte nodded fondly, "That's her alright,"

Astrid shook her head, butting in, "But wait, the dragon we saw was small, like smaller than Toothless, we haven't seen a Stormcutter on either of these attacks."

At this, Caillte ducked away, coddling the baby dragon to avoid the conversation. Hiccup looked to him worriedly, "Caillte, does this mean there are actually two dragons attacking Berk?"

Hurriedly, Caillte shook his head, "No," he grimaced and pulled at his hair, "she's just mad, Súile-Ciel went missing and she went crazy… I—" tensed realizing he had actually uttered that word, "I only wanted to stop her from hurting people."

Hiccup's eyes widened while the other took a step away, "you… you know this dragon?" he wondered.

Caillte gulped nervously, "I was trying to convince her to leave the island alone! Then that dragon chased me off into the woods and I got lost!"

"The small one?" Astrid confirmed.

Caillte shook his head, "it wasn't the same species as Súile-Ciel, it was black, bigger than me, for all I know it was Toothless!" he scoffed worriedly and becoming extremely agitated.

At this, even Hiccup tensed, "Bigger than you?" he wondered, Caillte nodded, Hiccup's hand drifted to his chin, thinking, "I can name fifty species of dragons bigger than any of us…" he muttered, "and if the dragon that chased you was definitely not the mystery dragon or the Stormcutter, the only black dragon here is Toothless, and the only thing he chased in the last two days was the mystery dragon, that pegs you—"

Snotlout butted it like a big butt, "How do you defend your alibi!?"

Hiccup stammered and gaped at Snotlout, "Do you even know what that word means?"

Snotlout shrunk back gradually, "No… but I think I said it right…"

Hiccup looked back to Caillte but the boy nearly looked away sadly, "alright…" he gave in softly, "I recognized the Night Fury instantly, who would forget the offspring of lightning and death itself, I knew it was Toothless the whole time, but when I saw how you tamed him and had control over him I realized you were just trying to protect your village just like I was trying to protect my family."

Caillte stood up and the others stepped back, "two nights ago, Toothless chased me into the woods and shot me down…" he admitted softly.

Hiccup tensed as Fishlegs and Astrid gasped simultaneously, "You're the—but you're…"

"Human, I know," Caillte muttered then sighed, Súile-Ciel could feel his anxiety and purred to comfort him, "well not quite, River and I were hoping it would be safe up north, but with all the space up here it didn't take long for one of the kids to get lost."

"Wait what!" Astrid shrieked.

Caillte flinched, "Please don't freak out, you guys train dragons don't you, you know we're as smart as you if not smarter and we protect our own!" he tried to convince them.

Hiccup gaped realizing what Caillte was trying to say, "You're a dragon!?" he muttered. Fearfully, Caillte pressed himself against the wall, and nodded slightly. Hiccup smiled a little, "and River?" he wondered.

Caillte lost eye contact with him, "the Stormcutter…"

Hiccup neared him unafraid of the concept, "so she's your mother?"

Caillte tensed, "What? No!" he defended himself then realized the misunderstanding, "Dragon's mature in a few years, I'm an adult, River's my mate."

At this Tuffnut chimed in, "Did that guy just say 'mate'? You're married? I mean, wow aren't you a little young for that?"

Ruffnut clocked her head against Tuff's helmet, "Shut up, he just said he's a grown up dragon!"

Hiccup pressed his lips together trying to make sense of this, "so you're telling me that you've been traveling north with your mate and baby dragons to escape the Celts, but Súile-Ciel went missing in the village and his mom went all crazy!"

Caillte's fiery eyes defended her, "She's not crazy she's worried sick!" he recoiled realizing his tone, "And… she also really doesn't trust humans…"

Hiccup gave him some space and grimaced, "So where does that put you?" he wondered.

Caillte winced, hurt by the question, "I… uh…" he stammered, "I've been like this since I was very young, River saw that the Celts thought I was a monster and she saved me."

"So…" Fishlegs broke in, "Can you just… turn into a dragon?" he wondered confused.

Caillte shrugged, "Pretty much, do you want to see?" he offered, seeing they didn't hate him as much as the Celts did. Fishlegs and Astrid nodded eagerly, while Snotlout and the twins stepped back skeptically. Hiccup didn't move, a tad worried and confused, again his fear came back for the same reason, hoping he hadn't hurt Caillte.

Caillte set down his staff and Súile-Ciel, and got down onto his knees, blue scales formed all over his face, four horns grew from his head and a set of large wings grew out of his back with a long tail tipped with a trident. He gave a loud, powerful roar and flapped his wings whilst Súile-Ciel climbed onto his back. He wasn't much smaller than Toothless as comparable while Toothless walked up to the blue dragon to smell him.

Caillte took a turn about Toothless smelling him as well along with the leather riggings and saddle on Toothless' back. Toothless stuck out his tongue and Caillte uttered a sound like laughter. Hiccup awed, "Wow, you can talk to Toothless?!" he realized.

Caillte nodded, but a brisk growl indicated he couldn't talk to people like this. Now all the traits Hiccup had seen in Caillte made sense, he was a parent of a small helpless creature and as a dragon he didn't need help with anything, in spite of having lost a leg. Hiccup could see how the dragon was also missing his leg below the knee but it didn't slow him any.

Caillte took a snap at Toothless and the Night Fury reared growled and Caillte did so as well roaring in a choppy voice. It took a moment for everyone to realize they were playing when Toothless jumped over Caillte nipping him with his gums. They clawed at each other lightly, Toothless pinning Caillte to the floor and Caillte shot a puff of smoke into Toothless' face disorientating him so Caillte could get free.

Hiccup laughed watching the two dragons playing in the Meade Hall, the grounded Night Fury, and the limbless mystery dragon seemed to get along quite well but nonetheless, Toothless was stronger than Caillte and the small blue dragon respected and looked up to Toothless. The Night Fury got Caillte to surrender having established dominance and Caillte turned back into a person on the floor.

Toothless smiled a very toothless grin as Caillte reached up with human hands and petted his chin. The teens awed at him, and Fishlegs stepped closer, "Do you know just what species of dragon you are?"

Caillte shrugged, "As far as I know, I'm the only one of my kind…" he admitted with some effort, "but you're welcome to take a stab at it."

Fishlegs brought the image of Caillte's dragon form forward in his mind, "Do you know your shot limit?" he asked confusing Caillte, "how long you can breathe fire before resting," he explained lightly.

Caillte thought about it for a moment, "I think I can go for about six minutes straight at a time."

Fishlegs awed, "that's a long time for most dragons!" he declared amazed, "what kind of fire is it?" he wondered.

Caillte grinned very proud, "it's explosive!" he declared pleased with himself, "and there's always a lot of smoke for a good cloud cover,"

Hiccup nodded remembering last night, "there was a lot of smoke in the air last night, did you set those fires so River could move through the village unseen?" he wondered.

Caillte nodded, "but I didn't light any houses on fire, I just blew fire into the air, River… has a temper, and I know she's frustrated, we need to get Súile-Ciel to her as soon as possible!" he urged.

Fishlegs interrupted, "could we come up with a name for your dragon species first, I mean with Súile-Ciel you're not the only one of your kind, and you said there's six hatchlings?"

Caillte shrugged, "Of the six there's three who look like me, the other three look like Stormcutters."

Fishlegs nodded thoughtfully, "Do you swim well?" he wondered if this dragon was a tidal class, Caillte nodded a little, "Can you eat eels?" Just uttering the word made all the dragon's cringe.

"Ew!" Caillte exclaimed, "What? No! They're poisonous!"

Hiccup laughed a little, "No eels, got it!" and Caillte eyed him so he frowned, "Yeah, no, I don't like eels much either…"

Fishlegs grinned brandishing the book of dragons, "I've got it, how about Thorishula!" he suggested excitedly.

Astrid and Hiccup stared at him blankly, "Where did you come up with that?" Astrid blared obnoxiously.

Fishlegs shuddered knowing Astrid's violent tendencies, "alright… then how about Valknut?"

Hiccup slapped his face, "Why would you name a dragon after the symbol Vikings put on memorial stones?!" he shrieked.

Fishlegs cowered, "Just a thought…" he wimpered, "give me a break I was trying to come up with things that mean three, because of the trident on his tail," he gestured to Súile-Ciel for reference.

"I got it guys," Tuffnut interrupt, "how about Lightningrod, or no, Smokerod!" he laughed, "'cause remember the time Hiccup used a trident to attract the lightning and it hit him!"

Hiccup groaned, he still had the scars, and if phantom pain from his missing leg wasn't enough the lightning did some wild damage to the nerves in his right arm. However, Tuffnut was right, the name did make some sense. He adopted a small smile, "what do you think of that, Caillte? Smokerod sound good to you?"

Caillte thought about it for a few moments then grinned to himself a little, "Yeah, I like it just fine," however his eyes said he was just happy for people to know about his true self and they accepted him. Súile-Ciel ran into his arms and purred like a big cat, "Do you like that, Súile-Ciel? You're a Smokerod," he told the young dragon.

The baby dragon growled some and blew a smoke ring up at Caillte's face in approval of the name. Fishlegs started doing his thing studying the baby dragon, "He actually looks like a Smothering Smokebreath a little, so Smokerod dragons could be like a large southern species of Smokebreaths which makes you a mystery class dragon!"

Caillte smiled at this notion and picked up his staff to be able to stand with them, "I like the idea, but four dragons doesn't make a species."

At this Toothless huffed and Hiccup agreed with his dragon, "We don't know about any other Night Furies, Caillte, but he's a Night Fury either way."

Caillte sighed, "It's not that I feel alone, I've got my hatchlings after all, but I'm not entirely a dragon either, I'm just me,"

Hiccup smiled warmly and laid a hand on Caillte's shoulder, "you know, I'm just Hiccup, there's no one out there like me, just like you completely unique, that's something special right?"

"I guess…" Caillte muttered, disheartened even still. Toothless came up between Hiccup and Caillte, rumbling a low moan to comfort Caillte, who mustered a smile and laughed, "you want to find out which of us is fastest, Toothless?" he jeered a bit playfully. Toothless nearly nodded in excitement, pushing Caillte onto his back just after Hiccup climbed on to work his tail.

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**Thorishula is a lazy misspell of Trishula a hindu goddess that has a trident**

**Valknut is a Norse symbol of a triple triangle that has been used on memorials to Odin (people don't know much about its meaning)**

**Fishlegs... y u need to bring up outside source material!?**


	4. Smokerod

**Short chapter, I've been kinda busy, but this chapter was fun. As a heads up, I'm not going to explain how Caillte can turn into a dragon because he's an OC from a different story. If you'd like to find out please visit my FictionPress account and read my story "Caillte" or visit my deviantART account "E-Kathryn" Gallery-THE SHADOWS-Ice Dragon Antics for more of Caillte's backstory. If all you care about is Hiccup and the gang, just go watch DW:Dragons and HTTYD2! ;)**

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The blue dragon zipped through the clouds as fast as Stormfly, able to keep up with Toothless and very nimble from its size. Caillte gave a loud roar from behind Toothless as he flapped his wings frantically, giving it his all to keep up with Toothless. Hiccup laughed seeing Caillte's tongue hanging out of his mouth as with the exhilaration he was more fun than ever in his life.

"Let see what you got!" he shouted loudly back at the blue Smokerod dragon, as Toothless let out a plasma blast which struck the side of a cliff. Caillte watched as the rubble from the explosion fell into the sea and he took another pass over the cliff face and as he flew at the rocks much like a Night Fury folding his wings as he dove, smoke poured from his mouth like a zippleback's gas only blue and suddenly and concussive blue flame burst from Caillte's teeth and like Toothless he struck the rocks, doing just a bit less damage than Toothless had.

"Yeah!" Hiccup shouted excitedly just as Toothless soared upward followed by Caillte who landed at the top of the cliff and sat down, watching Hiccup and Toothless intently as Astrid and Stormfly landed behind him. Caillte looked to Stormfly and gave a warbling growl causing the Deadly Nadder to playfully come at him nuzzling his softer scaly armor with her beak.

Astrid jumped off to watch Caillte and Stormfly play, communicating with each other through growls and little bird-like screeches. This was until the young Smokerod came into play and shot into Caillte like a kamikaze bomber. Súile-Ciel climbed all over Caillte, nibbling on his wing tips and the soft parts on his arms.

Fishlegs stood aside watching the two and really starting to see the parental relationship Caillte had over Súile-Ciel. It truly fascinated him how Caillte interacted with the baby dragon, Fishlegs was also able to observe that Caillte and Súile-Ciel did not have very thick scales and they were surprisingly frail for dragons. Fishlegs dared not get between a dragon and their young from his experience with Changewings, but he had to ask, "Can Súile-Ciel turn into a person too?"

Caillte perked up, staring deeply at Fishlegs with his big green eyes, suddenly he seemed to sneeze and shake his head in denial. Fishlegs fondled a notebook he was scribbling into, "ah, got it," he muttered as he wrote down all the stats for the Smokerod species. Its class was mystery, its fire type was a concussive blue fire with a lot of smoke, and its size was medium-small.

Again Fishlegs got up to ask a question, "What's your preferred habitat?"

Caillte was too busy wrangling his little dragon hatchling to the ground as it nipped at his ear. Astrid laughed a little at how Caillte wasn't paying any attention to Fishlegs, and they had to wait a while for Súile-Ciel to take off flying after Caillte roared at him playfully. Caillte shook off his amusement laying down on the ground comfortable before he transformed back into himself reaching immediately for his staff.

He looked to Fishlegs with a broad smile on his face, something they had not seen much of since they met him, "I've lived with River and other Stormcutter's all my life, they live in high altitude mountainous areas, and being sharp-class they made nests out of wood. Before River and I started flying north we had a very elaborate shelter almost like a hut with a roof, a fire pit and everything!" he described gleefully.

Fishlegs awed, writing all of it down, "are the other two Smokerod hatchlings different colors other than blue?" he asked.

Caillte nodded, "Yes, they are white like River, a boy and a girl."

At this, Fishlegs' curiosity was sparked, "what colors of Stormcutters have you seen?" he wondered eagerly.

Caillte laughed a little startled by the question, "Well… my three hatchlings are blue like me, brownish-red—I've seen one other Stormcutter with that coloring, and the second oldest, Darmisu is black all over like Toothless. I've also met one Stormcutter who was purple, but she was hostile towards us and I only got a look at her."

As he said this, Hiccup landed with Toothless up on the cliff with the others. Caillte met eyes with him and suddenly frowned, "Stormcutters are extremely overprotective and I admit it has been a risk for me every day to stay with river. If they feel a connection with anyone or anything they'll snatch it up and carry it away to their nest, that's what happened to me at least. They are caring, but River can be overbearing at times…"

Hiccup took this in silently, imagining what it must have been like for Caillte to be taken away from all that he knew by the white dragon. "What about your family?" he wondered his voice a bit worried for the boy.

Caillte's eyes fell to the grass unable to preserve the pleasant smile he had worn before, "I honestly don't know…" he whispered, "I…" he hesitated, "I never knew them…" he admitted with effort. However he quickly readopted his happiness, "but my family is with River now."

Smiling in return, Hiccup came over to the boy and laid a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, Fishlegs burst forth with another question, "So when do we get to meet River?"

Again Caillte frowned a bit nervously, "I don't know how safe it would be to just bring you all to her, like hey, these Vikings had Súile-Ciel the whole time," he explained like it was actually a danger then suggested, "it might be safer to just bring one of you, then if she's reasonable I can bring her to meet the rest of you."

Hiccup curled his fingers under his chin contemplating this and he nodded, "that sounds like a good idea,"

Caillte sat down on the grass again, laying his staff across his lap, "Hiccup, you seem to have a great understanding of dragons, would you be the first to come?" he requested, garnering Fishlegs' immediate disappointment, "sorry Fishlegs, I have nothing against you, I just don't want River to get scared for any reason." Hesitating, Caillte cringed and looked to Toothless, "and by one of you I do me one, not a dragon and his rider, sorry Toothless…" he muttered.

Hiccup didn't like the sound of that at all and patted Toothless' head worriedly, "but Toothless is a dragon like River, why can't he come?"

Caillte gripped his staff turning his knuckles white, "Because he's going to be as afraid of him as I was when we first met, but she's bigger than Toothless, so she probably won't wait to fight him off."

Hiccup frowned but nodded and looked to Toothless, giving his chin a little scratch, "Sorry bud," he despaired, "looks like you're going to have to wait this one out…" Toothless warbled a tone of despair as well in agreement.

Abruptly, Caillte chuckled and Toothless gave him and odd look. "What?" Hiccup remarked, startled by Caillte's humor.

Desperately, Caillte tried to hide it, covering his mouth as he stifled his laughed, "Nothing… it's just his nickname for you… it's quite unusual!"

Hiccup deadpanned, and waved him off, "I don't even want to know…" he muttered whilst Toothless followed him, nudging him jeeringly. He wasn't sure he really wanted to know what Toothless had to say about him amongst dragons, but part of him really did.

Seeing he wouldn't get through to him, Toothless playfully ran back to Caillte nuzzling his side and throwing Caillte's balance some. Caillte listened intently to the sounds emanating from Toothless' strange draconic voice which Hiccup had come to love, "He says, you're 'Hapless', and without him, you'd have lost more than your toes."

Hiccup chuckled, eyeing Toothless, "I did lose more than my toes, you big useless reptile!" he joked sauntering over to his dragon.

Caillte looked to Toothless as he growled at Hiccup some incoherent phrase in Dragonese then Caillte looked to Hiccup, "he says you're hapless and clumsy, by dragons' standards that would mean accident-prone and unlucky."

Hiccup crossed his arms, "Gee thanks, bud," he muttered sarcastically.

Caillte chuckled, "He just doesn't want you to go alone, and you won't, I'll take care of him, Toothless," he assured, fingering over Toothless' dorsal spikes. There was just something about Caillte that Hiccup admired, Caillte had a totally different world riding on his shoulders, living among dragons and truly being one of them, yet still retaining his humanity. Hiccup doubted in that situation he would have been able to do the same.

Suddenly a malevolent roar rained down from the sky and all eyes turned to a cloud which turned orange with fire from inside it. Caillte tensed and suddenly Súile-Ciel flew down to his side, hiding under him as he stood up, drawing his brows in fear as he stared up at the clouds.

"What was that?" Fishlegs fretted.

Caillte's voice growled in what appeared to Hiccup as anger, "It's her!" he yelled furious. The Stormcutter's four wings disrupted the clouds batting a firm gust of wind down at them as again it roared, glaring down at them. "Hiccup!" Caillte shouted.

"Yeah?" Hiccup muttered nervously.

Caillte put down his staff, "You train dragons to trust you, right?" he confirmed, getting down on his knees to transform.

"Um yeah…"

Suddenly Caillte's eyes sparked, lightning green as he shouted just before he transformed, "ride me!" and his voice changed to a roar. Súile-Ciel pounced up onto Caillte's back and looked to Hiccup expectantly as the young dragon knew as well as any what Caillte was demanding. Hiccup glanced to Toothless for a brief moment before swallowing his guts and jumping onto Caillte's back.

* * *

**Finally some action! **


	5. Backhand Blow

**Intense scenes are fun... idk why I was procrastinating about this, I knocked out the whole chapter in a few hours.**

* * *

"You mean to tell me that boy is a dragon?" Stoick boomed, Astrid chasing behind him as close as he could. The red-bearded man charged wildly up the slope to the lookout tower to see the smoke rising from the cliffs where those teenagers had once been precariously playing. His eyes widened as he could see the fire in the distance, "he's the mystery dragon that has been attacking the village!" he realized whispering such a terrible notion and a tornado like blast of fire rising up to Asgard. Hurriedly, Stocked stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly for his Thunderdrum, Thornado.

"Wait!" Astrid shrieked but the chief would not listen, "Caillte isn't the one—" it was too late, the chief was flying off into the smoke from powerful emission from the Smokerod's breath. Caillte's fire was explosive leaving massive wafts of smoke to rise, forming a conveniently concealing cloud which had allowed him to fly over the village and attack unseen. At least, that was all Stoick was concerned to know.

A ground shattering roar echoed as Stoick neared the commotion and vaguely he could see four massive wings through the clouds of smoke. Thornado roared with a sound louder than thunder scaring of a flitting cloud of five baby dragons which followed the four-winged dragon followed hastily by a sixth one which wasn't good at flying.

As the smoke began to clear, Stoick heard a great cry for help belong him and he suddenly saw a scuffle in the air between Hiccup and a small blue dragon. "Thornado, dive!" Stoick yelled, seeing them falling, "Hiccup!" he screamed for fear as he watched his son plummeting down to the rocks and the sea with the dragon which was bringing him down.

"Dad!" Hiccup realized as he saw his father on the blue Thunderdrum.

Stoick reached out to snatch his son from the creature's grasped, "Git yer filthy claws off my son!" he boom more furious than when Hiccup was first attacked by Hookfang.

Hiccup tried to reach out but tensed, hearing his father's voice, "Dad, wait, no, Caillte's won't—" he was suddenly cut off as Caillte panicked whipping his tail around to try and steady himself and glide back to the sky but his sharp trident tail slashed at Thornado's maw, cutting it so it bled.

Hiccup was in Caillte's grasped hanging beneath him as Caillte struggled to steady their fall. "Oh, no you don't!" Stoick shrieked. Thornado had more control in the air right now and he was able to get under the little dragon and grab Hiccup, throwing the dragon's grasp off of his son so the Smokerod continued to fall.

Caillte roared as Hiccup reached after him, terrified and screaming his name. The blue dragon hit the water with a splash rising a good fifteen feet above the surface of the sea and his wings could not be seen below the waves after the sea foam cleared. "No!" Hiccup panicked, afraid and sorrowful.

Stoick laughed triumphantly, "Ha, you won't be getting my son today, not after how you took my wife!" he chanted, patting Thornado to increase his altitude.

"Dad!" Hiccup shrieked, "Caillte was trying to protect me, you might have killed him!" he looked back to his father's eyes fearsomely, "we were trying to fight off Caillte's mate. She was being an overprotective mother dragon, you know what a mother would do for her hatchlings!" he insisted.

Suddenly, Hiccup felt a firm, disorienting blow to the back of his head and his tensed realizing his father had dealt the backhanded blow, "boy, did you not see tha' that was a Stormcutter!" he pointed up to the cloud of smoke as they flew away from it.

Hiccup fell silent, shocked that his father had actually hit him for speaking with such a tone, "I know it's a Stormcutter," he assured, "Caillte told us—"

Stoick growled, "I don't care how well you think you can control dragons, but just as you said, a mother protects her hatchlings, and when a Stormcutter latches onto a target it doesn't let go without getting what it wants or getting equal compensation!"

Tensing a bit, Hiccup just stared out at the sea, "and what would you know about that, have you even seen a Stormcutter before!" he snapped, still angry, and scanning the water for any sign Caillte survive just as Stoick was. Although, they were doing this for different reasons and very different hopes.

Stoick frowned, "aye… but tha' was a long time ago…" he whispered sorrowfully, "when you were only an infant." Hearing such emotion in his father's voice caused Hiccup to look back just in time to see a small tear mingle down into the coarse hairs of Stoick's beard. Stoick tried to hide it but it was too late, Hiccup had already seen it and he hurriedly wanted to put his son's curiosity to rest, "my boy… Stormcutters are very dangerous, the only dragon gutsy enough to try and take what was most precious to me…" his voice quivered, "and succeed."

Hiccup's eyes widened, his green eyes shining with the golden light of the sky, "Dad?" he whispered unsure of what to think, "are you saying…" he gulped, "it was a Stormcutter that…" he couldn't even finished.

Stoick closed his old eyes wishing they would never have to see those dreaded four things again, for they were the last thing he had ever seen of his wife. He sighed, soaring lower towards the shore, "Stay away from the Stormcutter, tha' is an order!" he demanded setting Hiccup down on the slope, "so it's trying to reunite with its young, don't get in its way!" he commanded, "or it could be you it tries to take instead!"

Hiccup felt his heart racing with all he had just learned and he was barely able to move his feet in protest whilst Stoick flew off again on Thornado. "Hiccup!" Astrid's voice echoed in the back of his mind but Hiccup couldn't move. "Hiccup?" Astrid addressed him again, confused by how paralyzed Hiccup looked, "What happened?"

Hiccup gulped slowly, "I don't know…" he whispered, Caillte might have drowned, and it was a Stormcutter that took Hiccup's mother. Hiccup's fear stifled his curiosity, a burning drive which made him want to use Caillte to find out what really happened to his mother, but all his desires were crushed by the blow his father had dealt him and the tear he had seen in his father's moustache.

Stoick's hands shook as he scanned the coastlines for any sign of the dragon-boy until finally he spotted sight of the boy's blue tunic, "there!" he indicated to Thornado and the round well of thunder and teeth descended upon the boy as he dragged himself out of the freezing Nordic ocean. "Don't move, monster!" he threatened pointing his axe at the boy.

Caillte laid in the sand gazing up at the huge Viking chief, terrified. His wild red hair was plastered to his cheeks and his green dragon eyes shone the fear in his heart upon being called a monster once more. Stoick grabbed his arm with a fierce grip, "you're coming with me!" and Caillte tensed, frozen, hypothermic, and mortified.

Stoick tied up Caillte's wrists, unsure if it would hold the boy then threw him on Thornado's back, making the dragon nervous. They took to the air again and unbeknownst to Stoick, the boy passed out as the cold seeped into his bones. The flight was quick, and Stoick gave little thought in locking Caillte into a cell, one they had used for Heather and Alvin on occasion. He stormed out of there shouting to his half-brother, Spitelout, "Meet me in the Meade Hall!"

"Aye Stoick," Spitelout assured, entering into Berk's prision only to be blown past by two scrawny teenagers. "Oi, what are you two doin'?" he demanded as hastily, Hiccup and Astrid entered the boy's cell.

Hiccup saw that Caillte was unconscious and touched his skin worried, "Oh gods, he's freezing!" he whispered feeling Caillte's face, "he need blankets and fire, Astrid can you go get some!" he requested worried for his friend.

Astrid nodded and ran off blowing past Spitelout again as well as Toothless who was squirming his way into the tight space, "Toothless," Hiccup addressed him, hearing his best friend's heavy footsteps, "can you help me keep him warm?" he requested urgently.

Toothless shook his ears to and fro in affirmation and firmed a small plasma blast at the floor to create a decent fire. Astrid returned moments later to find Hiccup rubbing Caillte's wet shoulders hurriedly to rub the warmth back into him. Astrid grimaced, "we should probably take off that wet tunic," she pointed out revealing that she had fetched a dry one for him.

Hiccup looked to see it was one of his own tunics, but he nodded nonetheless and with Astrid's help that worked the sopping heavy wool material off the boy's shoulders and used the blankets to dry him. Hiccup and Astrid couldn't help but notice while they did this, Caillte had very defined muscles around his back and on his torso, likely formed from the extensive stress he was used to from being a dragon. The boy must've been almost as physically strong as Stoick himself, but he still maintained the frame of a walking fishbone.

Together, Hiccup and Astrid slipped the green, woolen tunic over Caillte's head as he rested then Hiccup went for the wet trousers whilst Astrid wrung out Caillte's wet blue tunic, providing some dry leggings for Caillte as well. Once dry, Hiccup and Astrid bundled Caillte up in the several wool blankets she had fetched and Hiccup hurried to get a log of wood for some real fire.

"What are you doing!" Stoick demanded suddenly, startling Hiccup a good deal.

Hiccup tried to ignore him and go on past but he was blocked by his uncle and forced to face his father. Hiccup clung to the log of wood in his warms, "Dad, Caillte took a swim in that ice cold water thanks to you, if we don't get him warm fast he could die!"

Stoick bent down and glared at him, "I don't want you anywhere near that boy!" he ordered, "This is for your own protection!" he assured sounding desperate, "I'll decide what to do with him, whether that be to save him or to feed him to the beast!"

Hiccup felt the color draining from his face, "Dad!" he shouted, "Have you not changed at all?!" he shrieked frantically, "Caillte is a person just like you and me, he may be different, but that doesn't give you the right to kill him like a—" he stopped himself, threatened to cover himself.

"'like a' what?" Stoick boomed, "Like a dragon?" he yelled down at his son, "Hiccup, a chief's duty is to protect his own from any threat! Someday you'll have to learn that, Even if that means giving up on someone or actually killing your enemies! I've had to learn that in my years…" he trailed off.

Hiccup dropped the log of wood, unable to believe what he was hearing, "when would it ever be right to kill someone?!" he protested.

Discouraged, Stoick growled in the back of his throught, "ah… Hiccup, you're being unreasonable!" he insisted watching as Hiccup tried to get past Spitelout again, but to no avail. Stoick crossed his arms, "in spite of everything, that boy puts the whole village in danger, we've seen that already, and I won't be repeatin' what happened when I lost your mother!" he started walking off towards the Meade Hall, "you can set the fire, then I want you and Astrid out of tha' cell and in the Meade Hall, Spitelout, make sure that cell is secure!" he ordered and finally Hiccup's uncle let him pass and he hurried back into the prison.

Astrid had been listening from the doorway cringing the whole time and seeing in Hiccup's eyes how crushed he was. Toothless tried to comfort Hiccup until his boy indicated that he wanted him to light the log of wood for a warm fire very near to Caillte. Toothless did so then Hiccup knelt in front of the fire laying a hand on Caillte's shoulder sadly.

"Hiccup?" Astrid whispered, barely able to imagine what hiccup was feeling.

Indeed, Hiccup was sure this time he had struck down the rarest of dragons. Caillte wanted nothing but peace and by bringing the boy into Berk, Hiccup had only put him at risk. Hiccup gazed into the glowing embers of the fire causing the tears on his cheeks to appear as bright crystals, "this is all by fault…" he whispered, crushed.

The thoughts of his mother once facing a Stormcutter in battle a long time ago flashed through his mind creating unrealities in his vivid imagination. He didn't want to think about what it did to her, and what all that Stormcutter had done to Caillte. Hiccup couldn't even understand why Caillte felt so attached to the Stormcutter, if river was nothing more than a violent, overprotective mother. It was like trying to befriend a Whispering Death or a Changewing, knowing the moment he bent her will he'd be dead.

Hiccup remembered gravely when all Vikings could imagine was this fear, but then Hiccup proved to them Dragons weren't mindless beasts. Stormcutters couldn't be just overprotective, they had to be caring and gentle once that got attached to something. Hiccup stood up abruptly, startling Astrid, "where are you going?" she asked worried as Hiccup walked out.

His prosthetic made an odd _clink _against the floor every other step as he didn't look back, "the Meade Hall, I have to prove to my dad that Caillte isn't a monster!" he insisted.

"Hiccup!" Astrid hurried after him, "I think you're missing the point!" he urged getting in front of him and trying to stop his persistent drive up the hill. Hiccup frowned as he succumbed to her, "your Dad knows Caillte isn't a monster, he knows that Caillte is a person, but think about it, Caillte is perfect bait for the Stormcutter!"

Hiccup tensed, his eyes widening horrified at the idea, "you don't think my Dad would kill River?!" he shrieked.

Astrid frowned sorrowfully, "What do you think, he's out for revenge, I can feel it," he muttered not even knowing it was a Stormcutter that had taken Stoick's wife and Hiccup didn't tell her. Again, Hiccup pushed past her up the hill, and Astrid struggled to hold him back, "Wait Hiccup, we need a plan before we go charging in there! And it's not like pulling on yak's horns that's going to steer your Dad in the right direction!"

Hiccup sighed despairing, "Well what do I do, Astrid, my last big plan to convince him dragons weren't evil backfired horrible I nearly got you, me, Toothless, and Dad killed!"

Astrid laid a hand on his shoulder, "Let's see what your Dad is planning first, if he's going to use Caillte as bait we could at least take advantage of what or if River shows up. Surely Caillte knows all her soft spots!"

Hiccup eyed her, "Ew… Astrid did you just say that!?" he cringed.

"What?" Astrid puzzled.

Hiccup hung his head, "I am so glad Snotlout and the twins didn't hear that!" he moaned.

"What!?" Astrid shouted threatening to hit him.

Hiccup laughed, easing himself away and up the hill, "easy," he urged, "it's just Caillte and River have six hatchlings, they're mates, so the way you said that—"

"Oh!" Astrid tensed, "say no more!" she warned, "or you'll lose your two front teeth!" he bared a fist.

"Okay…" Hiccup laughed, cowering away playfully as they hurried up to the Meade Hall together.

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**I didn't want to go into too many details about how Valka was taken but I imagine this is for Stoick would feel in a set up like this, seeing a Stormcutter attacking the village. He's a Viking after all, he's got stubbornness issues. Anyway, we got a cute father/son moment so I feel satisfied for now! tune in next time for Hiccup's crazy plan... AGAIN... hopefully this one doesn't involve Monsterous Nightmares.**


End file.
